Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Newsday - May 13, 2003
Laurie Garrett, Staff Correspondent
Three weeks ago, Ho and colleagues in New York and Hong Kong discovered that the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus uses mechanisms to gain entry to a cell that are similar to those used by the AIDS virus. HIV is able to infect because of a protein on its outer surface, which repeats itself seven times, turning in a helical manner each time. The resulting coil, or heptad, yanks at the membrane of human cells, allowing the virus to punch its way in.
The SARS coronavirus has a protein on its surface that behaves similarly, Ho said in an interview.
Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in Manhattan, and colleagues then modeled a drug after an anti-HIV drug to prevent the SARS heptad from fusing with human cells.
"We just completed some important experiments in Hong Kong," Ho said, "and it worked beautifully."
Ho collaborated with Drs. Malik Peiris and Yuen Kwok-yung at the University of Hong Kong to test the drug in the cells of Hong Kong SARS patients. Then Ho flew here to share the findings with scientists.
He also is setting up collaborative deals for SARS vaccine research. A native of Taiwan, he has long had relationships with Chinese AIDS vaccine researchers.
Last week another New Yorker, Columbia University's Ian Lipkin, was here to forge similar research relationships. He warned that competition between Chinese scientists, propelled by hopes of profitable patents, threatened to undermine the country's anti-SARS effort. Ho, who also has patented his SARS innovation, said he doubted China's scientific effort would yield to profit-driven competition because "at this time, with top leaders giving scrutiny to the situation, they will not tolerate too many self-serving antics."
The drug after which the SARS treatment is modeled - T20 - is a complex peptide that is difficult to manufacture, has a short half life in the human body, and must be injected. But Ho expressed optimism that the new drug would require injections for only a few days.
He said his family had begged him not to risk travel into the SARS epidemic, but he replied, "It's like you're a firefighter: You're called to help in the next town. You can't say no. You just go."
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